Southern California’s warm winter and lack of rain are contributing to an early largemouth bass spawn at many San Diego County lake.

Dave Acevedo at Lake Jennings said bass have moved into the shallows there and anglers are seeing some big females loaded with eggs and in pre-spawn mode.

The big females and smaller male escorts could be even more susceptible than usual to larger swimbaits this year because Jennings stocked larger trout in the fall and early winter. Those big bass accustomed to eating smaller trout might be looking for a smaller swimbait. Another batch of rainbow trout up to 12 pounds was added this week at Jennings. And later this month, Jennings will get Lightning trout and tagged trout that will be worth prizes to lucky anglers.

Brandon Avalos of El Cajon landed a 9-pound Sierra ‘Bow that topped a stringer that included a 7.75-pounder and a 6.25-pounder at Jennings. He used mini-jigs.

Jennings will be open Feb. 17, President’s Day.

Santee Lakes also is kicking out its share of larger trout, with Nik Sorenseene of La Jolla landing a 10-pound, 5-ounce rainbow out of Lake 4 on a night crawler.

Miramar Lake has been very good for bigger bass already this season. Marcus Anderson landed a 12-pound, 6-ounce bucketmouth last Friday on the heels of his friend Jay Saberon’s big catch of that 16-pound, 2-ouncer earlier in January. Anderson used a Gan Craft 230 swimbait (rainbow trout-pattern). Poway, Murray, Lower Otay and Morena, also stocked with trout, are kicking out bigger bass than usual for this time of year.

Capt. Ron Baker and big bass specialist Mike Long will host the Lake Poway Kids Free Fishing Derby Saturday, with a free seminar Friday and camping available at the lake. Call (858) 668-4772 for details.

On San Diego Bay, the team of Ed Howerton and Dennis Burlason won the San Diego Anglers Open Bay Bass Tournament for the fourth time in 19 years. The 60 teams had tough fishing, according to tournament director Dwayne Patenaude, but the Howerton-Burlason team won it in the last 20 minutes of fishing. They totaled five bass at 13.33 pounds and earned $3,050 for their efforts. Matt McBride and Kirk Henely came in second with 12.46 pounds. Randy and Bob Williams weighed in the top bass, a 4.25-pound sand bass. Doug Bury and Dennis Early had top spotted bay bass (2.50 pounds), and Scott and Shane Hawes had the best halibut, a 15.44-pounder.

In what may have been a testament to how tough conditions were, four kayak anglers finished in the top 25 this year, the most ever, according to Burlason. Top kayak angler was Dave Easton with 9.58 pounds.